Article - February 25, 2007

 

Most of the information contained in this article was obtained from RomanianLawOffice.com (IEC Law Firm)

Somewhat surprising when you think of the Romania’s economic growth in the past years is that there are very few places to find out more information on how to go about setting up a company in Romania, no matter if it’s branch of an existing foreign company, a simple SRL (Limited Liability Company) with a sole shareholder or Joint-Stock Company (called S.A.). A few things you must know:

- there is no way to reserve your Romanian company’s name on the Internet
- You can incorporate the company even without visiting Romania with the help of a lawyer.

- the minimum share capital is 70 Euros for a SRL and the equivalent in Lei of 25,000 Euros for an SA

- Besides the classic SA and SRL there is also the possibility of establishing 3 different types of branches/subsidiaries of your existing foreign company, each with its own limitations.

- Any foreign person or company can be shareholder or director in a Romanian company

- There is no need to appoint a Romanian Director or any type of Romanian agent.

The actual procedure of setting up a company in Romania is to draft the company documents (Articles of Association/Incorporation) and take the file to the Trade Register. A judge will approve the incorporation or request further information/documents on a case-by-case basis. The Romanian judges tend to be extremely strict with the form of the requested documents.

After the file is taken to the Trade Register (and if the information is correct and complete) it will take 5 business days to approve the company. Please be warned however that each judge might have his/her own opinion on the documents and information requested to complete the incorporation so the process can take a little longer when you least expect it.

Costs

1. Approx. 120 Euros to reserve the company name + Trade Register tax

2. Sworn Translator fee (if you will not be signing the documents drafted in the Romanian language) – around 150 Euros. Note: if you are visiting Romania then you have the choice of signing the documents in front of a Public Notary and in the presence of a sworn translator.

3. Attorney costs.

4. Costs of an office address (at least a registered office). An attorney will be able to offer you this service.

This is about all the basic information on how an actual company incorporation process actually takes place in Romania. For other information visit www.RomanianLawOffice.com. Also don’t hesitate to write a comment if there is anything I left out.